The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-11-03

end it shall be rude traitors den
or st. Mark 8 of Venice. Men who
begin to write the intricate poem of
their lives without knowing whether
it shall be a Homer's Odyssey, or q
botch. Nine hundred and
men out of thousand are
living without any great life plot.
Booted, and spurred, and plumed, and
urging their swift courses in the hottest
haste. / come out and ask: ''Halloo,
man, whittier away?" His response is:
''Nowhere. Rush into the busy shop CT
store of many one, and taking the
plane out of a mans hand, and laying
down the yard stick, say: ''What, man,
is all this about, SO much stir and sweat?i
The reply will stumble and break down
between teeth and lips. Every days
duty ought only to be the following up
of the main plan of existence. Let men
be consistent. If they prefer misdeeds
to correct courses of action, then let them
draw out the design of knavery, and
cruelty, and plunder. Let every days
falsehood and wrong doing be added as
coloring to the picture. Let bloody deeds
red stripe the canvas, and the clouds of a
wrathful God hang down heavily over
the canvas, ready to break out in clamor-
Gus tempest. Let the waters be chafed,
a froth tangle and green with immeasur-
able depths. Then take torch of burn
ing pitch and scorch into the frame of
the picture the right name for it;
namely, the Souls Suicide. If one
entering upon sinful directions would
only in his mind, or on paper,
draw out in awful reality this
dreadful future, he would recoil from
it, and say: cam l Dante, that
by my own life l should write another
Inferno?" But if you are resolved to live
a life such as God and good men will ap-
prove, do not let it be vague dream, an
indefinite determination, but in your mind
Or upon paper sketch it in all its minutia.
You cannot know the changes to which
sou may be subjected, but you may know
what always will be right and always
viii be wrong. Let gentleness, and
charity, and veracity, and faith stand in
the heart of the sketch. On some still
brook s bank make a lamb and lion lie
down together. Draw two or three of
the trees of life, not frost stricken, nor
ice glazed, nor wind stripped, but with
thick verdure waving like the palms of
heaven. On the darkest cloud place the
rainbow, that billow of the dying storm.
You need not burn the title on the frame.
The dullest will catch the design at
glance, and say: That is the road to
heaven" All, mel On this sea of life
what innunerable ships, heavily laden
and well rugged, yet some bound for an
other port. Swept every whittier of wind
and wave, they go up by the mountains,
they go down by the pillows, and are at
tieiT wits end. They sail by no chart,
they watch no star they long for no har-
Dor. l beg every young man today to
draw out sketch of what, by the grace
Of God, he means to be, though in excel
lence SO high that you cannot reach it.
He who starts out in life with high
ideal of character, and faith in its attain
ment, will find himself incased from a
thousand temptations.
There are magnificent possibilities be-
fore each of you young men of the stout
heart, and the buoyant step, and the
bounding spirit. I would marshal you
for grand achievement. God now Pro
vides for you the fleet, and the armor,
and the Notifications; who is on the
Lords side? The captain of the zouaves
in ancient times, to encourage them
against the immense odds on the side Of
their enemies, said; "Come, me men,
look these fellows in the face. They are
5000, you are 800. Surely the match
is even" That speech gave them the
victory. Be not, my hearer, dismaJ e,i
at any time by what seems an immense
odds against you. Is fortune, is want of
education, are men, are devils against
you, though the multitudes of earth and
hell confront you, stand up to the charge.
With million against you, the match is
just even. Nay, you have decided ad-
vantage. If God be for us, who can be
against US? Thus protected, you need
not spend much time in answering your
aSsailants.
Many years ago word came to me that
two impOstors, as temperance lecturers,
had been speaking in Ohio in various
places, and giving their experience, and
they told their audience that they had
long been intimate with me, and had l,'
come drunkards by dining at my table,
where l always had liquors of all sorts.
Indignant to the last degree, went down
to Patrick Campbell, chief Of Brooklyn
police, saying was going to start that
night for Ohio to have these villains ar
rested, and / wanted him to tell me how
to make the arrest. He smiled and said:
''Do not waste your time by chasing
these men; go home and do your work,
and they can do you no harm" | took
his counsel and all was well. Long ago
/ made up my mind that if one will put
his trust in God and be faithful to duty,
he need not fear any evil. Have God ON
your side, young man, and all the COM
bined forces of earth and hell can Go you
no damage.
And this leads me to say that the
mightiest of all defense for a young man
in the possession of thorough religious
principle. Nothing can take the place of
it. He may have manners that would
put to shame the gracefulness and
courtesy of a Lord Chesterfield Foreign
languages may drop from his tongue.
He may be able to discuss literatures, and
laws, and foreign customs. He may
wield pen of unequaled polish and
power. His quickness and tact may
qualify him for the highest salary of the
counting house. He may be as sharp as
Herod and as strong as Sampson, with as
fine locks as those which hung Absalorl,
still he is not safe from contain
ination. The more elegant his man
uer, and the more fascinating his dress,
the more peril. Satan does not
care much for the allegiance Of a
coward and illiterate being, He can
bring him into efficient service. But he
loves to storm that castle of character
which has in it the most spoils and
treasures, 1t was not some crazy craft
creeping along the coast with valueless
cargo that the pirate attacked but the
ship, full winged and tagged, plying be-
tween great ports, carrying its million OF
specie. The more your natural and
acquired accomplishments, the more
need of the religion Of Jesus. That does
not cut in upon or hack up any smooth
ness of disposition or behavior. 1t gives
symmetry. It arrests that in the
soul which ought to be ar